exarch

¹ American  

[ek-sahrk] / ˈɛk sɑrk /

noun

1. Eastern Church.

   1. a patriarch's deputy.

   2. a title originally applied to a patriarch but later applied only to a bishop ranking below a patriarch and above a metropolitan.

2. the ruler of a province in the Byzantine Empire.

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exarch ² American  

[ek-sahrk] / ˈɛk sɑrk /

adjective

Botany.

1. (of a primary xylem or root) developing from the center; having the youngest cells closest to the core.

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exarch ¹ British  

/ ˈɛksɑːk /

noun

1. the head of certain autonomous Orthodox Christian Churches, such as that of Bulgaria and Cyprus

2. any of certain Eastern Orthodox bishops, lower in rank than a patriarch but higher than a metropolitan

3. the governor of a province in the Byzantine Empire

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exarch ² British  

/ ˈɛksɑːk /

adjective

1. botany (of a xylem strand) having the first-formed xylem external to that formed later Compare endarch mesarch

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Other Word Forms

• exarchal adjective

Etymology

Origin of exarch¹

1580–90; < Late Latin exarchus superintendent < Greek éxarchos overseer, leader, equivalent to ex- ex- ³ + -archos -arch

Origin of exarch²

1890–95; ex- ² + Greek archḗ beginning

Example Sentences

Most colorful visitors at the opening last week were the Russian and Eastern Orthodox representatives�bearded patriarchs like Archimandrite Vitaly of Russia, Archbishop Panteleimon of Greece and Metropolitan Germanos, Greek Orthodox exarch for Western Europe.

From Time Magazine Archive

But he returned presently, at the instance of the exarch of Ravenna, to the errors which he had renounced.

From The Formation of Christendom, Volume VII by Allies, Thomas W.

The Pope again, as in the time of Pope Sergius, ordered the gates to be closed; induced the Italians to retire from Rome, and saved the exarch.

From The Formation of Christendom, Volume VII by Allies, Thomas W.

One of the rival candidates, Theodore, did him homage at once; the other, Paschalis, very unwillingly, and he secretly called in the exarch from Ravenna to his aid.

From The Formation of Christendom, Volume VII by Allies, Thomas W.

In the sixth century after Christ Justinian formed the middle part of Italy into a province of the Eastern Empire, and gave the government of it to an exarch.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 3: Estremoz to Felspar by Various